Month: May 2009

Thursday, May 14th

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 14/05/2009

A day in my life.

I don’t normally work on Thursdays so I get to do whatever pleases me. Today I signed up with Daring Kitchen, but I won’t get the next recipe until June so I am not under any real pressure with that. However, I am considering making the gnocchi recipe from May because it looks good and I’ve never made it before.

Then I finished packing Ari’s travel bags and realized she’d left her markers behind on her last trip, so I decided to go to the Dufferin Mall and get some new supplies.  I showered and then couldn’t figure out  what to wear so I took a bunch of self portraits and tried to look like I’ve had botox.

no botox!

I don’t want botox. I don’t care if my forehead crinkles when I smile. This face was hard to do properly.

Ok, so then I dressed and slopped around on the couch for a while because I didn’t want to leave too early. So I took another picture. Or two.

books

Some of those books are mine. Yes, I’ve been brushing my hair, but I still haven’t used shampoo since December.

Ok, so I left and managed to forget my phone and had to turn back. Something about this place makes me scattered and I forget at least one important thing on my way out every day. It’s awful and I don’t know why my brain’s doing this to me. So I left again with my umbrella because the sky was pretty dark.

dark

That’s at Landsdowne and Bloor. Believe it or not, it never did rain, not while I was out. D-Mall was great, as usual, got Ari a new dress and shorts that were on sale at H&M, then got 2 colouring books at that big store there, then walked home. I went the extra block around because I’d noticed this crack in the sidewalk last week that made me happy.

starwalk

Is it weird that a crack in the sidewalk can make me happy?

Then L came over and she taught me the ins and outs of the indoor fishpond and cleaned the (completely revolting) filter. It’s good to know all this stuff, I’d been agonizing over it since we adopted these fish, and the death of Kelly. And one of the new red fish-got sucked into the intake tube-tragically yesterday. Pretty gross, that, I had to unplug the filter and shake her out and she was all stretched and flattened and, well, dead. Since then, the other 2 goldfish have been on a hunger strike. I also topped up the pond with three buckets of water and arranged Elephant Junior’s leaves over the water to provide shade and privacy.

I’d wanted to go to the airport but wound up staying home due to an unexpected bout of gut rot. While I didn’t end up properly throwing up, I did puke in my mouth, which I LOVE.  I have no idea what brought this on, maybe some of the disgusting glorp from the filter got in my mouth somehow.

Now I am just waiting for Shannon to come home and take care of me.

Guilt

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 13/05/2009

So, as I already stated, I am Atheist, but I did live with an Irish/Italian Catholic for a few years and his good old fashioned guilt must have rubbed off on me a bit because right now I am compelled to admit something.

I stole this from my mom:

Orange Blossom

Yes, I was into Strawberry Shortcake dolls when I was a kid. I don’t know who my mom bought this for, I had always assumed it was for me, yet it sat in her closet for what seemed like years, birthdays and Christmasses and other holidays when a nice toy would be appropriate drifted by and I never was given her.  I grew somewhat resentful about this, I mean, really, WHY would a grown woman want one of these dolls and not play with it (I KNOW! Ironic, eh?)? I felt like she was just being mean.

So I took it. I don’t even remember when. And clearly it was after any time that I would have wanted to play with it, as she resides in her original (squashed) box with a $9.99 price tag on the top from Robinsons. Robinsons? What the hell is that? Is that like The Bay but…not?

Sorry, Mumma. And if I am remembering this story not quite correctly, please fill me in with your details.

And the answer is…

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 13/05/2009

I’ve been into pickling lately, it’s sort of fun to do and satisfies my need to chop things up in an orderly way and then organize them into jars. The eating is mainly not done by me, and that’s also ok. My most recent pickles, the turnips, have been tasted and they aren’t as good as the ones you get at Middle Eastern restaurants on a falafel. Pooper-oo.

Anyway, there’s a store at the corner of Landsdowne and Bloor that I go to almost daily because it is my favourite sort of store, an e/n discount place. It’s big, with lots of great stuff for cheap. Today I bought Lysol wipes, pitted dates, dry-wall anchors, cheap-o paint brushes and pickling spice.

Did you know what’s in pickling spice?

spices.

Spices. Insert eyeroll and sarcastic “thanks”.

Non…fiction?

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 12/05/2009

I went to Indigo today to pick up Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator for bed time reading today and walked past this:

bible

I actually stopped, gazed into the distance and said “hm” aloud, then walked back while surreptitiously getting my camera out and turning off the flash. I mean, really? NON fiction? Call me a non-believer, really, go ahead, it’s ok, but I thought even the hardest of hardcore Christians were like, well, lots of the bible are just stories, parables as it were.

Let’s get this straight, for once and for all: I am Atheist. I was born and raised Atheist by Atheists. I’ve never believed in a higher power. Yes, I say ‘lord’ and ‘Jeez’ a lot, I know it, but I don’t really mean it.  I am trying to break that habit. And for the record, I don’t mind that most of my friends DO believe in god. Or gods, maybe. So I would hope that they don’t mind that I don’t.

Ok.

Yesterday was my birthday, indeed, and it was a good day all around.  I had an enormous lunch at Swiss Chalet with my boss and then supper with my family and a beautiful cake. I might be making a trip to Montreal to see my sister soon, that will be nice.

For the record: I am not pregnant. I repeat, I am not pregnant. I keep hearing rumours that I am, and I promise, I am not.

And ps, for Micheal, hope your surgery was a huge success and that we see you back home at Courtyard ASAP!

Homemade ‘nola bars

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 07/05/2009

So, as always, I mean to take pictures during the cooking process and then forget. Suffice it to say, the day after, nothing looks as pretty despite it still tasting deliciously. Delicious. Whichever.

When was the last time I brown nosed foodgawker? Well, I slurp up that blog daily, bookmarking untold numbers of recipes and then promptly forgetting about them. Yesterday, however, I actually made something!

Ooommmmy

I used this recipe-I’d never even heard of brown rice syrup before. It’s gross, totally gross, but it worked in this recipe, and now because I have half a jar left, I will be forced to make them again, oh, boohoo poor us. I took a tiny liberty with the recipe, I added 1/4 cup flax seeds, and same amount of coconut.  Shannon says they’re better than the Starbux version, which I think are more like over-hyped rice crispy treats.

Oh, and there was a big old hair in the one I just ate. Mmm.

The Boy

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 07/05/2009

The boy

Quick project. The boy is cute, now he’s my wall paper and a toy.

Projected project

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 04/05/2009

You know when you’ve been sitting on something for, well, years, and thinking, gosh, I should probably just throw this out finally, and then one day you live in a space with elbow room, well, a LOT of elbow room and your sewing machine is up and running and every day is a joy because you can  get some work done at last? You know that feeling?

Me too. And I have boxes and boxes of things I’ve been sitting on, waiting for the right moment.

I don’t even remember where I got this pattern, it’s second hand for sure, the date on the back is 1972-year of the rat like me. And I’ve always loved the look of this dress, and apart from the zipper-I’ve never put in a zipper, I swear-it seems easy, 2 pieces in the front, 2 in the back, 2 sleeves and that’s about it. I might stick in a couple pockets too, I love pockets.

cute dress

I dig the long sleeve version, but seeing as it’s almost summer, I might just skip sleeves entirely.  The recommended fabrics include gingham, which I adore, but I am probably going with linen.

And fyi, “Pants are not included”!

Kumihimo ATE MY BALLS!!

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 03/05/2009

And if you don’t know what kumihimo is, check this link. I used the pdf templates linked under looms. Anyway, it’s all Nicole’s fault, I tell ya. We agreed to trade-I have half made zombie bunny slippers for her-and she made me an incredible necklace that must have cost a fortune in glass beads…on a cord that she made herself. Of course, I had to ask.

necklace

Cool, eh? I’m not a great photographer and this picture doesn’t do it justice. Ok, so, Cole told me what the cord was and naturally I dashed out and bought a wack of embroidery floss (at Walmart-their craft section is utter balls nowadays, seriously, crappity crap) and made a cardboard loom, used a rock with a natural hole in it I found on a Dover beach, and started my first cord:

yellow cord

Shades of yellow, 8 strands. I kept getting confused and the pattern is not so wonderful. But still. Then I started a new one, with obvious colours and following an actual 16 strand pattern, creating a diagonal stripe.

new braid

Yes, that’s Mariah Carey.

close

Neat, eh? I have no idea what I will do with the cord, maybe I will send it off to Cole.

Maybe I should just pick one thing to be good at and stick to that.

Craft corner

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 01/05/2009

I have my very own little work space and I couldn’t be happier about that. There’s tons of storage (I even took over the old film refrigerator) and all my fabric, yarn, buttons, feathers, beads, spangles and whatnot is there and available. Today Rose helped me tweak my sewing machine and it seems to be working just fine, contrary to what I’d thought for a long time.

sewing!

The small table in the centre has a pile of old purses/bags I’ve made over the years, with the very festive Santa beard purse on top. I was going to take pictures of them but didn’t bother.

dollhouse

The dollhouses.  There’s also a small mountain of almost finished acorns. I’m on the lookout for small threaded eye hooks-I think-to screw into the top of the acorn cap and then they can be hung on necklaces.

I really do need to start working on those houses, I know.